National Review to get Wazn Miller docs

9/11/13 6:39 PM EDT

James Allen, a spokesperson for Newark Mayor Cory Booker, says in an email that the National Review will receive the records related to the Wazn Miller case, the young man Booker claims to have held in his arms as he was dying from gunshot wounds in 2004.

"The request in question was filed with Office of the City Clerk, the custodian of records that operates independently of the Office of the Mayor. Because no electronic police records exist for this time period and the Clerk’s search of microfilm records did not produce any results, the Clerk directed the Police Department to perform a manual search of hard copy archives. The Clerk notified the National Review that they anticipated a response on or before September 13th and did not receive an objection. Officials at the Police Department searched extensively and located hard copies of the incident report. The Clerk has indicated that the National Review will receive the records on Thursday, prior to the deadline.”

National Review said they filed the lawsuit because the 7-day window afforded to respond to open records requests had passed.

Earlier on Wednesday National Review editor Rich Lowry, also a columnist at POLITICO, announced they were suingCory Booker, the city of Newark and Newark Police Department for failing to provide National Review reporter Eliana Johnson with police records surrounding the incident.

"We're delighted that Newark acted so quickly once it faced so much bad publicity," Lowry said in an email. "But it shouldn't be so difficult to get it to abide by basic requirements."

According to Kevin Griffis, a spokesperson for the Booker campaign for Senate, the National Review knew it would receive the documents.

"This was nothing more than a partisan stunt by the National Review. The Review had heard from the clerk’s office, which is independent from the mayor’s office, and knew when it would receive documents. The publication didn’t even bother to call anyone in the mayor’s office or on his campaign," Griffis said in an email.

Johnson told POLITICO they started investigating the story, which Booker has told on several occasions and used in speeches, because of the controversy surrounding a story Booker would tell about a drug dealer he befriended named T-Bone.

"It seems ridiculous (the Miller story) is dragged into the public sphere by the highest official in city and the public is prevented from being able to verify the statements that were made," Johnson said.

Lowry told POLITICO they didn't reach out to Booker's office or campaign because of their experience reporting on the T-Bone story.

"The experience we had with T-Bone story when we reached out to them we just got a very brief five or six word ambiguous brush off emails. The idea that they were going to go out of the way to help on this seems quite a stretch," Lowry said.

“Booker tells many of these heartrending stories in his speeches, and, given the unlikely existence of T-Bone, I figured it was worth looking into to whether any of the details were fudged," Johnson said, adding that Essex County Chief of Detectives and a former Newark Police Director Anthony Ambrose told her he could not release the police report to her because the shooting is still an open homicide case.

Ambrose said in a statement that he was at the scene of Miller's shooting and witnessed Booker with the victim.

“I was Director of the Newark Police at the time of the Miller case in April 2004 and I responded to the scene where Wazn Miller was shot. When I arrived, I found first responders as well as Cory Booker. I remember that Cory was wearing jogging pants and a sweatshirt, and that he had blood all over his hand and on his arm. The people at the scene said he rendered aid to the victim, and I recall him staying by the victim’s side until he was transported to the hospital. Unfortunately, the individual did not survive.”